Mechanical structures are present in automobiles, household appliances, flooring, machine shells, washer/dryers, airplanes, boats, or various tools. Many mechanical structures contain cavities. It is desirable to reinforce portions of the structural members surrounding such cavities. Such reinforcement can provide impact energy absorption in crash situations. Such reinforcement can also mitigate vibration and resultant noise. It is desirable to absorb impact energy and/or minimize vibration using reinforcement components that add as little weight as possible to the overall mechanical structure.
It is also desirable to have reinforcement components that are easily integrated into the manufacturing process. For example, in the case of an automobile, a reinforcement component that can readily be maneuvered into a cavity during assembly is desired.
Certain structural members contain more than one cavity, which may be adjoining. For such structural members, it is desirable to have a single component that can be placed into more than one of the cavities of the structural member during assembly. This can reduce the overall number of components used for reinforcement and therefore reduce the total weight of the components used for reinforcement.
It is also desirable that reinforcement components have at least one surface with expansible material thereon. After the reinforcement component is placed into the structural member and the structural member undergoes sufficient exposure to heat (such as during a paint bake process), the expansible material expands, cures and adheres to the structural member, thereby reinforcing the structural member.